When Punishment Becomes Sheer Spite

I was as disgusted by the orgy of looting and wanton vandalism in the summer as anybody else, but this story concerns me, as did the demands for the eviction of looters from council houses at the time.

It seems that Wandsworth council tried to evict a family because the son had looted an electrical store, but they haven't been able to. So why should his mother be thrown out of her house? Surely it is the miscreant who should be punished not his innocent mother. Should the family of everybody sent to prison in the UK also be evicted?

To punish a whole family for the deeds of one member strikes me as highly vindictive and utterly immoral. But on another level where should this type of action end? Would my next door neighbour, who owns his home, have been immune from similar punishment had one of his sons looted a shop? If not, why not if the law applies to all? Surely his house should be taken off him and his family dumped on the street too.

Where do these evicted families go? Maybe if my neighbour had been evicted an unscrupulous private landlord could have bought his property and moved another evicted family into it, after all, they still need somewhere to live. Or are the evicted families expected, indeed only allowed to turn up at homeless shelters? Or maybe they are all expected to get together and live rough on the streets, maybe in tents outside cathedrals and in other urban areas.

This type of action is beyond punishment, it is sheer spite and I'm glad Wandsworth council failed.